Author: sailawaysarantium

I arrived in La Paz!!!!

Just outside La Ventana!!! Totally expected, just wish I had my windsurfing gear!

Soooo fun sailing by La Ventana and it made me miss windsurfing soooo much! I’ll be back!

Wind kept building around the corner and by the time we had sailed past La Ventana, the combination of NorthWest wind and opposing current, it was time to find an anchorage… we found a gorgeous one 120 metres from the boat. Totally private and an amazing white sandy beach!

My support vessel and Infinity’s support vessel…

We sure landed in an amazing anchorage today!

Exactly what I needed…

I now know about why they talk about the bajabash! we bashed into waves for 28 hours, if not longer. And the wind predictions were soooo WRONG. My weather on Garmin inReach promised 13 knots and PredictWind promised 15-20knots. We had 20-30 with average windspeed of 25, gusting 31. To make things worse the Northnorthwest wind direction promised was mostly northwest direction. So instead of one tack to get to our next anchorage we made several. 12 hour sail turned into …..28…😳

Winds have picked up and we are forced to stay on Sarantium, for a couple of reasons. One, it might be too much wind for the zodiac to actually make it to the beach. Two, I’m hesitant to leave Sarantium in case she drags anchor. Without looking at the wind meter, it feels and sounds like 40knots. There are five boats altogether in the bay; Ogigiona from Seattle, Inscrutaples from Vancouver, a blue sloop from Germany, another traditional beauty of a ketch and us. There was a massive and very fancy power boat that arrived this morning at daybreak, however they chose to leave after a few hours. I believe their boat’s structure had too much windage and was forced to leave. Their tender was almost the size of Sarantium. Their flag was red, orange and white so not Canadian, nor USA, or Mexican.

The water is very warm, turquoise and clear here and it finally feels like the tropics. I keep looking for Bull sharks as they say they thrive here. 😳 Manta Rays also exist abundantly here. This bay has a underwater canyon that runs from land out, which you have to be aware of when one anchors. If the boat drags, the anchor goes with, falls off the shelf and down the canyon!

In addition, there are two sunken wrecks in the bay. One is a large freighter, Colima, and a 90 foot fishing boat. Colima was lost in a storm 1939 and the fishing boat sunk in 1978.

🍋🍎🍍🍠🧄🧅🥬🥕🌶️🫑🌽🥦🥒🥬🫛🍑🍏🍌🥑🍏🍐🍅

We have (almost) officially ran out of fresh fruit and veggies…we have one mealie apple, one very dark and cracked (half of) lime and one very sad looking lemon left.

But we have tequila… and kumbucha!

What else is needed?

After Sarantium sails past Cabo San Luca and towards sea of Cortez on a beautiful, close haul (wind on the nose) in the Gulf of California, Sarantium turns North. She sails into the Sea and we continue to have light northerly winds on the nose. We are pleased…and decide to bypass the beautiful anchorage, Bahia Los Frailes. This bay has a gorgeous sandy beach with some new quaint homes on it. The bay also have a giant rock that provides divers with a wall to explore, according to the Cruisers guidebook: Sea of Cortez.

While sailing by the bay I did think I might regret my decision to bypass it. But I could always visit here on my way back. Then shortly after my decision, I see Mantas jumping out of the water, playing. This was a first for me. Never before, had a seen this in real life. I am not sure I knew that Mantas jumped out of the water. What’s next? Whale sharks? Nope, just flying fish and dolphins!

We continue towards la Paz taking turns at the helm. We’re down to three hour shifts now, as we are pretty tired, EXHAUSTED in fact. I head to bed and wake up two hours later by the gyb sail being taken down. I stick my head out of the cockpit and see and feel a strong wind and us hardly moving. It’s too windy for the direction of the boat and wind combination. We try and balance the sails and try to go down the wind a bit more. Giant waves are appearing on the nose and we are now acting like a giant teeter totter. Our options are to either do a giant tack across the sea of Cortez, and then tack back in 10-12 hours to gain any distance at all. Or we need to go and find an anchorage close by. All the anchorages are too exposed to northerly winds so the closest is Bahia Los Frailes. We turned the boat around and headed south around 0400.

We arrive in two and a half hours in beautiful Bahia los Frailes and I think “things happen for a reason” sometimes. I’m still exhausted… breakfast and bed!

Just woke up, so let’s go and explore…😁🐋

As I write this Sarantium is just sailing out of Golfe de California and into the sea of Cortez. With that we’ve watched Cabo San Lucas come and go!

We left Magdalena Bay with northwesterly winds and it gave us boat speeds of 4-7 kn over the next two days and nights. The sail brought no excitement which was nice. I prefer uneventful nights on the ocean. We did see some wildlife and lost a lure. We were accompanied by fair size dolphins and two turtles, I always wonder how sea turtles fair with boats and predators. They seem so helpless.

Sailing past Cabo San Lucas during the night I noticed on AIS (automatic identification system) that many bajahaha boats are anchored there. For how many days, I don’t know, but we only need them to stay there until I find a good anchorage in la Paz!

Sweetness is when you watch the sun sets on your starboard side and at the same time, the moon breaks the horizon on your port side. Time to make coffe and eat some Müsli.

The wind is suppose to pick up around 1400 today so our goal is to raise the sails and sail out of Magdalena bay. I’m crossing my fingers that prediction is correct this time. But one never knows and I’m preparing myself mentally for more winds…. I haven’t heard amazing things about Cabo san Luca so I would like to bypass this city and go straight to la Paz. Having said this, seems like a strong pattern of NO wind at the cape of Baja…

I go to bed early every night. I think it has to do with early sunsets. I seem to wake up just before sun break, around 0600. I have been away for awhile now. I think I left Nanaimo at the end of July. After sailing around the Gulf islands, San Juan’s on my own I picked up crew and left Victoria on July 29th. It has been such an interesting journey so far.

Like I’ve said before, sailing is sailing and that part became easier….. a lot easier handling Sarantium than any other boat I’ve sailed. I have electronic charts, electric plotting tools, wind reader, an electric winch, furlors for all sails, mechanical self steering, and if I need, an auto pilot, and much more. I can handle (solo) everything from the cockpit. Yes, it took some geting used to, but once I figured out these “luxurious” items, it made sailing more simple. I’m grateful that I had the experience sailing, big and small, boats that had less systems and sailed more “oldschool”. If my systems fail I still know how to navigate with paper charts, a compass, taking bearings, using land markings, etc.. Although I haven’t relied on my sextant EVER, I understand and know how it works. I really should practice…

Every morning I wake up and have the opportunity to reflect on what changes have taken place in my life in the past two years. It was a lot that took place in a short period of time. I dreamt, I sold, I retired, I bought Sarantium and I sailed away. A whirlwind! Maybe a worldwind? Many of the above events just fell into place. After I put my home on the real estate market… every thing just took on a domino effect. Hmmmm, that house… that was my “dream and forever house” …. do I miss my life on West road? Some things without a doubt… the snow on the trees, the shoveled walk way to the sauna and hot tub, the early morning dips in pool, the fruit trees and berry bushes, the walks with Kosmos in the forest, the cozy fires, my woodworking shop… but this trip has brought so many more experiences that I would never have had if I stayed in my life in Nanaimo. Living on a boat is much simpler, way less expensive and I experience new places every day. I appreciate the simple things in life on a different level than before, such as being in nature and experiencing different eco systems, swimming in the ocean every day, sipping on coffee, recognizing the importance in preparing basic food, and watching sun sets and sunrises every day. Overall, I feel so much more relaxed and living in the moment. I have no real timelines, no real stresses and no real plan…

As much as I thought I would have been in La Paz by now, I like the pace…. I go according to wind.

My two bits for today…